Professor Yedlin and his class use this exercise to visualize the difference between linear and exponential growth as part of the course titled "Living with Nuclear Weapons? Arms Control and Verification Technologies". The course brings together Applied Science and Arts students at The University of British Columbia to understand nuclear weapons, and nuclear weapons arms control and verification.

The control of nuclear weapon cannot be fully understood or addressed solely through the disciplinary knowledge and methods of the physical and life sciences or the social sciences and humanities. This course is team-taught by a professor from The Department of Electrical Engineering and the Department of Political Science introducing students to both the scientific principles and global politics of nuclear weapons.

Professor Yedlin uses exercises like the one depicted here to help students visualize the underlying scientific principles governing the forces discussed in class.